Death in custody: Videotape of man's death raises questions about police conduct

City quickly agrees to $1.3M settlement, reflecting change in policy

October 11, 2011|By Steve Mills, Tribune reporter

In the video, it is apparent John Coleman Jr. is in distress. He is in handcuffs, sprawled on the floor of the back seat of the Chicago police SUV after being arrested on a drug charge. His eyes are bugging out, and he looks as if he is gasping for air. When the SUV stops and someone opens the door, Coleman's head lolls out, only to have an officer close the door to wedge it back inside the vehicle.

Then the officers drove on.

Coleman, who had stuffed small packets of heroin in his mouth, died minutes later at a police station.

That video of what lawyers said was the deliberate indifference of Chicago police officers to Coleman's suffering led the City Council to approve a $1.3 million settlement with Coleman's estate. That it came 14 months after Coleman's death — a speedy resolution in a world where cases often drag on for years — testified to the video's raw power.

The quick settlement reflects a new policy at City Hall. Roderick Drew, a Law Department spokesman, said city lawyers hope to evaluate lawsuits soon after they are filed and, when evidence is against the city, settle them. That, he said, would lessen what the city pays for outside lawyers, who are often hired to defend against lawsuits.

"They felt this was not a winnable case," Drew said. "The videotape was pretty clear and spoke for itself."

The videotape shows how the police violated department rules in handling Coleman. At one point, an officer used a stun gun to subdue the 39-year-old, but failed to get him medical help as he was required to do. Afterward, the officers wrote reports documenting the encounter with Coleman that conflict with the videotape.

"They know he's down and they don't care that he's in bad shape," said John Winters, a lawyer for the Coleman family. "They knew that he had something in his mouth and that he was struggling with it. Absolutely they knew it."

The two officers who transported Coleman in the SUV, Ronnie Black and Alexis Zayas, have been relieved of their police powers while the case is under investigation by the Independent Police Review Authority, or IPRA. The agency investigates allegations of police abuse and makes recommendations about discipline.

The officers could not be reached.

The case has been referred to Cook County prosecutors and federal authorities, standard policy when a person dies in police custody, said Ilana Rosenzweig, chief administrator at the IPRA.

Sally Daly, a spokeswoman for the state's attorney's office, said the office would not pursue charges against the officers. "We don't believe that there's sufficient evidence that there was any criminal conduct or intent on the part of the officers," she said.

A spokeswoman for the FBI declined to comment.

Some parts of the encounter with Coleman will remain unknown. A video camera in the sally port at the Near North District police station, at Larrabee and Division streets, had been broken for about two years in spite of repeated requests to fix it, making it hard to establish everything that happened once police arrived with Coleman at the station.

What is certain, though, is that a routine drug arrest went horribly awry, leading to his death.

The incident began about 2:30 a.m. on July 11, 2010, when officers said they saw Coleman engage in a hand-to-hand drug deal in the 100 block of West Division. Coleman had been arrested dozens of times by Near North District officers, which suggests they were acquainted with him.

Although many of the arrests were for minor violations such as panhandling, Coleman's problems were significant. According to his family, he was schooled as a cook but began to use drugs. Work as a cook became sporadic, and Coleman soon began a slide that resulted in heroin addiction, Winters said.

His mother, Connie, said she was not aware of the details of his troubles, "but I kind of sensed them."

When police initially tried to stop Coleman, he fled but was quickly caught. Police said he struggled with them, and the audio on the videotape suggests a struggle, but it is not seen. At some point, he stuffed several small bags of heroin in his mouth; on the videotape, the officers can be heard telling him to open his mouth.

The officers ultimately got him handcuffed and into the back of a department SUV. With the music to the Foreigner song "Jukebox Hero" playing on the vehicle's radio, the tape shows Coleman in distress. He looks dazed and is rocking back and forth. The police can be heard yelling and cursing at bystanders to get away. On the tape, the bystanders are milling around, some of them already walking away.

On the drive to the station, the SUV stops, and one of the officers checks on Coleman, shining a flashlight at his face. His mouth is open, and again he appears to be in distress. When his head falls out of the back seat, the police close the door on his head to force it back inside. There appears to be little effort to determine if he needs medical attention.